THE CIVIL forfeiture "money machine" run by Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams may be getting shamed into submission.
Quietly yesterday, Williams' office agreed to dismiss civil-forfeiture proceedings against two Philadelphia families whose homes were in jeopardy of being seized because a family member was accused of selling drugs at the properties.
"If they don't have anything against you, they're supposed to [dismiss the case]. I didn't do anything wrong," said Somerton homeowner Christos "Chris" Sourovelis, 52.
Doila Welch, 47, whose South Philadelphia rowhouse is also home to her three children, brother and sister, was pleased.
"I'm happy they came to the decision to dismiss the case," she said. Welch, who is disabled, said others who are unfairly targeted by the city should "fight for your property, fight for your civil rights. Don't just sit there and take what they are dishing out."
She and Sourovelis are among four Philadelphians who, in August, filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the D.A.'s office seeking to rein-in its property-and-money guzzling civil-forfeiture program.
That lawsuit is moving forward to help the thousands of other innocent people ensnared by a program that was designed to catch and punish drug dealers, said Darpana Sheth, of the northern Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs.
"We won a battle but not the war. We still have to get a full ruling that the system that Philadelphia has implemented in civil forfeiture is unconstitutional," Sheth said.
District attorney backs off from taking citizens' homes - Philly.com
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